Depending on who you ask, you'll likely get a thousand different opinions on Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Some think he's on the verge of getting cut, while others think his performance so far through the preseason practices should make him QB1 on the depth chart. The takes about Sanders are wild and wholly overblown in every way possible.
Yes, Sanders missed time at the end of last week and is currently fourth on the Browns' QB depth chart. Yes, heading into Tuesday, Aug 5, 2025, Sanders has yet to take any first-team reps. Yes, Sanders has done well when given the opportunity. All that is true. Yet there is so much more going on.
Some believe Sanders has a lot of ground to make up. That may be true. Clearly, as the Browns have him low on their depth chart, and haven't really given him the best of the best to practice against. Yet, the Browns are going to send him out first against the Carolina Panthers this weekend as the Browns open up their preseason schedule.
Shedeur Sanders' Preseason Start Will Tell Us What to Expect from the Rookie
Does this mean that Sanders has the trust of the team? No, the Browns don't want Joe Flacco, their incumbent starter, playing any preseason football in week one due to his age, and Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, numbers two and three on the depth chart, are being held out due to injury.
The age and injury combination of the top three quarterbacks is exactly why Sanders and recently signed fifth quarterback Tyler Huntley are going to play the entire game at quarterback. This will, in essence, give the fans a taste of what Sanders can do. This will serve to only complicate the conversation around the rookie further. Either he helps or hurts his stock, and either way will only give more people ammunition to fortify poorly drawn up points.
So much of what is being said about Sanders is conjecture. He's just as likely to be cut as he is named the starting quarterback in Week 1. We have no idea how good of a player Sanders can or can't be based on a handful of weeks of practice. That's the truth. Whether you think he's trash or the next great quarterback, your opinions are being shaped by your perception of incomplete information.
The truth is, Sanders is a rookie who has played well against suboptimal players on a team that is unsure of what it intends to be. Sanders isn't playing steadily against the Browns' best defenders, namely Myles Garrett, and so a lot of his success is suspect. It's not an indication that he can't be a good player in this league, just a simple statement that he hasn't proven anything yet, either positively or negatively.
His start against the Carolina Panthers will give us a better idea of what he's capable of. If he's as good as so many people claim, then he should perform pretty well. Yet, if he's a real fifth-round pick, then he'll likely struggle or look very ho-hum. Either way, we won't know anything really until Sanders takes on Carolina as the starter.
Then and only then will we have a clue about what to expect from the rookie.